Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, October 18, 1994                   TAG: 9412010043
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

EX-BASKETBALL STAR BACK IN JAIL

Joe Fitzgerald, 23, was sentenced to two years in prison for violating his probation on an earlier charge of possessing cocaine with intent to distribute it.

Although Fitzgerald had not been convicted of any additional crimes while under a two-year suspended sentence, prosecutors said he violated his probation by testing positive for cocaine use, failing to get a job and missing meetings with his probation officer.

Roanoke Circuit Judge Diane Strickland, who had suspended two years of a five-year term she gave Fitzgerald for the drug charge in 1992, ordered him Monday to serve the rest of his sentence. But the judge allowed Fitzgerald to be released if he is accepted into a jobs training program.

After being sentenced in March 1992, Fitzgerald was paroled in August 1993, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom.

Fitzgerald played basketball for William Fleming High School until he was ruled academically ineligible. He was named the Roanoke Times & World-News 1989-90 basketball player of the year, and was considered a top prospect for a college scholarship before he dropped out of school his junior year.